No, Donald Trump is not the only president to skip his successor’s inauguration

Last month, President Joe Biden sat down with MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas for an interview. Meiselas asked the outgoing president whether he would be attending President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

Biden responded, “Of course I am. The only president to avoid an inauguration was the guy that’s about to be inaugurated.” 

THE QUESTION

Is Donald Trump the only president to skip his successor’s inauguration?

THE SOURCES

• The White House Historical Association
• Council on Foreign Relations
• A Troy University article
• Library of Congress

THE ANSWER

No, Donald Trump is not the only president to skip his successor’s inauguration.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Donald Trump did not attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, but he was not the first president to skip attending a successor’s ceremony. Four other presidents have missed their successor’s inauguration, however, Trump was the first to do so in over 150 years, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Johnson did not attend their successor’s inaugurations, The White House Historical Association says. 

Woodrow Wilson also did not publicly attend the inauguration of Warren G. Harding, due to mobility issues, but he was in the Capitol building at the time of the ceremony, The White House Historical Association adds.

Typically, an outgoing president is in attendance at the next president’s inauguration ceremony. This tradition initially began in 1837, when Andrew Jackson attended the inauguration of Martin Van Buren, a Troy University article explains.

In 1801, John Adams became the first president to skip a successor’s inauguration, avoiding Thomas Jefferson’s ceremony possibly “to avoid provoking violence between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, as this was the first time the presidency was transferred to an opposing party,” according to The White House Historical Association. He was also not formally invited by Jefferson. 

In 1829, John Quincy Adams boycotted the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, according to the Library of Congress.

It's unclear why Martin Van Buren did not attend the inauguration of William Henry Harrison in 1841, as multiple sources say the two seemed to get along and even had a dinner together shortly before the inauguration. The White House Historical Association notes that Van Buren’s son was ill at the time. 

Andrew Johnson, who was also the first president to be impeached and had not run for re-election, skipped Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration in 1869. The two “detested each other,” the Library of Congress explains, and “Grant said he would not ride in the same carriage with Johnson to the inaugural ceremony when it looked like Johnson might attend.”